Global Voices Online

East Asia

China Daily runs a USA Today article about a Chinese knock-off of American Idol, but, as Asiapundit points out, forgets to remove an embarrassing bit of copy.

CSR Daily uncovers the ironic news that anti-poverty wristbands were probably made in Chinese sweatshops. I suppose it could have been worse, though—they could have come from Chinese prison factories…

Bingfeng Teahouse provides insight into the wacky world of Chinese magazine circulation numbers; circulation of 30,000 is really 25,000, which is really 15,000, which is really…

The Cambodian blogosphere is all aflutter about the revelation that former King Sihanouk has a blog (of sorts). The blog itself can be found at www.norodomsihanouk.info; it’s written mostly in French, with some Khmer and English.

As anyone who’s ever been to Hong Kong knows, shiver-inducing air conditioning is de rigur in the buildings of the SAR. Ordinary Gweilo points us to a South China Morning Post article that reveals what many had long suspected: Hong Kong has the coldest offices in the world.

Photograph by Brooke Yu

Central Asia

Blogrel suggests that not having oil is a blessing in disguise for Armenia.

Nathan at Registan.net looks at the possibility of Kyrgyzstan hosting Chinese troops, and isn’t particularly thrilled by the prospect. He also links to eyewitness accounts of some of the Uzbekistan massacres.

South Asia

According to India Uncut, the police have set up a special ‘cyber-crime’ unit, targeting such crimes as “eve-teasing,” as well as other, more conventional offenses like credit card fraud.

And in sports, The Third World View has sage words of advice for those who would strip Bangladesh of Test status in cricket.

Africa

Jing, of Those Who Dare, looks at local unrest in Zimbabwe and wonders if it could be related to Chinese influence in the country.

Middle East

Silly Bahraini Girl has a meeting with a government official that doesn’t go particularly well. Though she does manage to work an old joke (I’ve heard similar jokes told about various Soviet-Block countries) about Bahraini Hell into the post.

Also in Bahrain, Mahmood follows up on the case of the journalist arrested for writing for a foreign paper without first registering with the government.

In Egypt, the Arabist Network reports on coverage suggesting that a Potempkin school was set up in advance of First Lady Laura Bush’s visit to Alexandria—students and staff of a school were swapped out “in order to present a better image to the visiting dignitary.”

Regime Change Iran is following reports of clashes between pro-regime and secular students at Amir Kabir University.

Eight members of a Syrian anti-goverment group were recently released after being arrested last week. The Syrian blogosphere has been hailing this as a demonstration that “the regime can be successfully opposed.” Other commentators had been wondering if the arrest meant that “hopes for a renewed ‘Damascus Spring’ were over.” And SyriaComment pointed to a newspaper column that points out that the freed dissidents weren’t “the only victims of Syria’s security services.”

Europe

The Czech Prime Minister (Jiri Paroubek) and President (Vaclav Klaus) are squabbling, reports the Daily Czech; apparently, Paroubek is claiming that the Klaus cannot travel abroad without prior authorization from the Foreign Ministry. Naturally, the President disagrees.

A Fist Full of Euros looks at some of the economic reaction to the emphatic non that the EU constitution received in France. In other EU constitution news, Loic Le Meur opened a thread asking his readers what they thought the vote really meant.

Who knew? Budapest is apparently a mecca for health tourism.

Siberian Light notes the case of Andrej Mucic, who is attempting to cycle more than 7,000 miles across the frozen tundra of Sibera to raise $10,000 for anti-slavery groups. He’s trying to do it in 100 days—that’s more than 70 miles per day.

North America

And finally, blogs all over the world have been hailing the selection of Natalie Glebova as Miss Universe 2005. From an internationalist perspective, there’s something satisfying about seeing a Russian-born Miss Canada win a pageant that was held in Thailand. A random sampling of the reaction: a former classmate; another Canadian blog; more Canadian reaction; another Canadian celebrates; a Vietnamese blogger comments (unfortunately, I have no idea what he wrote); an Indian blogger's reaction; and the news even made it onto a chess blog!

It's Memorial Day in the US today, a day dedicated to remembrance of those killed and injured in military conflicts - similar to Remembrance Day in Commonweath Countries, France and Belgium. With that in mind, we begin the day's roundup with a selection of posts from Milbloggers - bloggers who are active or retired military personnel, or military families:

Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette honors the memory of Marla Ruzicka, founder of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflicts, who was killed by a terrorist bomb in Iraq at the age of 28. John Upperman at Who's Your Baghdaddy? remembers six soldiers from his base camp who have been killed in operations in Iraq with photos of base facilities that have been dedicated to the fallen soldiers.

Blackfive points to a number of organizations that support soldiers in the field and groups that help former soldiers find jobs in civilian life.

The Talking Dog interviews US Army Staff Sergeant Shanona Gregozek, stationed in Mosul, Iraq, where she oversees a project - sponsored by Spirit of America - with the Kurdish Women's Union.

SFC Kevin Kelly reports on Memorial Day celebrations in his Engineer battalion, stationed in Iraq. And Lt. R.D. Currie of Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, is “happy to report that Memorial Day 2005, in Southern Baghdad Iraq was fairly boring“.

Image from John Upperman's blog

Africa

Don't tell Martin that Africa is “suffering” from brain drain - he's got a strong argument that Africans living and working abroad are a key economic force on the continent.

Congo Girl explains why beans are expensive, why beer is cheap, and why this is a very bad thing.

Ethiopundit has a political quiz, of a sort, for you. In a similar spirit (i.e., unsympathetic to the Zenawi government), Friends of Ethiopia is very concerned about the presence of militia forces in Addis Ababa.

Middle East

Mohamed at From Cairo, With Love wrote last week about a friend who was involved with a Kefaya protest last week and who reported that she was stripped, beaten and sexually assaulted by Egyptian authorities. He's now helping call attention to a protest organized by the Association of Egyptian Mothers - Black Wednesday - inviting all Egyptians to wear black to help protest last week's events and to call for the resignation of Egypt's interior minister, Habib al-Adli. (Some background on Wednesday's events from Newsday.)

Big Pharaoh is skeptical that people will participate in this movement, or a parallel white ribbon campaign. Over beers with a friend, he offers a timeline for what might happen over the next few years if the Mubarak government were replaced by an Islamist government.

Hoder wonders whether Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei, has implictly endorsed Rafsanjani, a seventy-year old presidential candidate, and how this aligns with his previous statements that Iran's new president should be someone “young and energetic.” Hoder also has an insightful piece on IranScan, analyzing the fashion decisions of major Iranian politicians and their attempts to appeal to different constituencies. Meanwhile, Babak Seradjeh wonders how 1008 of 1014 possible presidential candidates were disqualified by religious authorities.

Neda at An Iranian Girl calls attention to Akbar Ganji, Iran's longest serving political prisoner. Ganji has been imprisoned for 61 months and is now on a hunger strike. Mr. Behi is trying to organize a “Google Bombing”, trying to get bloggers to link to stories about Ganji's imprisonment.

Image - Black Wednesday banner

Central Asia and the Caucuses

MivPiv - a Danish aid worker in Kabul - shares tips for identifying suicide bombers, and details the “kidnapping kit” she keeps in her purse. Her Flickr photoblog shows some of the prettier sides of life in Kabul.

Raffi of Life in Armenia was in Karabakh (a territory disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan), watching footage of the new Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline - he's surprised that the pipeline has opened before a Armenia/Azerbaijan peace deal.

Nathan at Registan has a nice Global Voices shoutout, and his own world roundup, titled “Carnival of Revolutions”. Plus he's got a link to a new Mongolian blog. Saain bainyuu, New Mongol!

New Mongol is off to a terrific start, with an excellent piece explaining why Mongolia's election of a “communist” president doesn't mean that Mongolians are looking back fondly to Soviet times.

Image from New Mongol. Click to see it in its fully adorable glory.

Latin America
Eduardo at Barrio Flores wonders what happened to the Frente Nacional Anticorrupción, which claimed responsibility for a bombing in Bolovia two weeks back. Miguel points to a recent survey that 6 out of 10 Bolivians would emigrate, if they had the opportunity.

Isidro at Argepundit sees France's vote against the EU constitution as being more about nationalism and traditionalism than “anticapitalismo”.

South Asia
Yazad is trying to spark a debate, asking whether India should invade Nepal. He seems surprised that some Nepali commenters aren't happy about him asking this question…

Truman at Chien(ne)s Sans Frontieres is concerned that Mumbai city authorities are cracking down on “pavement” booksellers.

Amit Varma points to a story about heavy metals in ayurvedic medicines, memorably noting that “Metallica can lead to Megadeath”

Rezwan at 3rd World View celebrates Bengali fashion designer Bibi Russell.

East Asia

Clair talks about the stereotypes that plague Filipina women.

llauren celebrates the opening of a children's playground in Dili, East Timor.

Photo from llauren - Heading to the Independence Day celebrations in Timor/Leste

Middle East
More pictures from the demonstrations in Egypt, from the Arabist Network. From Cairo with Love shares a wrenching anonymous email from a woman who says she was assaulted in the riots.

Nearby in Tunisia, Zizou from Djerba and Subzero blog about Tunisian emigration. The numbers they have are:

- 80% of Tunisian youth would like to emigrate.
- 80.000 to 100.000 Tunisian youth leave Tunisia each year (Some come back of course).
- 25 to 35% of Tunisians abroad are jobless.

According to statistics from 2003, the number of Tunisians abroad is 850,000.

Sabbah is enthused about Israelii, Iranian, Syrian, Bahraini, United Arab Emirates, Egyptian, Palestinian, Moroccan, Saudi Arabian, Lebanese, Algerian, and Jordananian (and many other countries) cooperation the Sesame project – the Jordanian based Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East.

Also in Jordan, Abu Aardvark discusses the political situation facing prime minister Badran.

Africa

Friends of Ethiopia report on thousands of Ethiopian protests in D.C.

And Meskel Square reports that the Sub Saharan reformer has two “scoopettes”:
- The first is that the CUD is calling on its supporters to hold mass prayer protest sessions in mosques today and churches on Sunday
- An interview with Information Minister Bereket Simon over his fight for his seat in Lalibela.
- Ethiopian ministers are on a mission to Somaliland to look into using its Red Sea port Berbera for commerce.

4 Sheezy reflects on stalled government projects in Kenya.

Kenya pundit opens a thread asking for Africa stories -good stories - that people wish were written about more. Help her out here.

South America

Daniel Venezuala talks about the High Court drama going on there – with lots of comments and discussion following.

Europe

A fistful of Euros, despite the sunny afternoon, posts throughout the day, diggin deep into to Euroconstitutional arguments, and predicts greater efforts to enforce the Stability and Growth pact.

Central Budapest talks about the future of digital TV in Hungary.

South Asia

Kiruba asks for help: “Would you know any person or shop which services digital cameras either in Chennai, Hyderabad or Bangalore?” Answer here.
Anyone?

Lazygeek talks about the politics (and marketing) of the saucy posters for the movie Vallavan.

And Anita gives props and the trademark to the Bangalore bloggers bLogout to Suman.

Rich pickings today from Southeast Asia:
The Filipino Librarian has launched a campaign with the Filipino blogging community to correct the online image of Filipinas - women of the Philippines. Click on all these links and support their campaign.

Inside PCIJ blogs a recent report about the state of women on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

Vietnamese women may attempt an online campaign like the Filipino bloggers someday. Noodle Pie takes a break from his usual Vietnamese food-blogging to reveal a scandal surrounding Miss Vietnam.

Sarasonteh posts on Thailand's “most embarrasing ad contest” and the “fawning correspondents' club” in Bangkok.

In Singapore, Mr. Brown reports on a blogger flash-party. [LINK CORRECTED] There are Flickr pix too.

Another great Globalvoices Star Wars Post: Mystery Tan Lines does Return of the Sith in Singlish!!

Some people are getting a bit too carried away by this Star Wars craze… Mack at Brandmalaysia reports that a man in a Darth Vader suit has been flashing his “sabre” at unsuspecting women in Bandar Baru Nilai.

More seriously, Mack has a guest editorial on the balkanization and compartmentalization of Malaysian society.

East Asia:
The Mask of China reports that while Starbucks is coming to Dalian, their local staff can't spell.

South Asia:
United We Blog in Nepal expresses solidarity between Nepali and Iranian bloggers.

In India, Vantage Point meets a Muslim taxi driver who is investing in his daughter's future high-tech career, while encouraging his son to drive a taxi because the boy is nowhere near as smart.

3rd World View discusses the Bangladeshi rock scene.

Central Asia:
Nathan at Registan.net has a thorough Uzbekistan news roundup.

Latin America:
Devil's Excrement continues his regular criticism of Venezuela's state oil company, the PDVSA.
Venezuela News and Views has more on the PDVSA and allegations of corruption.

Barrio Flores on the protests in Bolivia.

Europe:
Neeka's Backlog recounts how a primary school class in the Ukraine is basically required by their teacher to support Yushenko.

Scraps of Moscow says: “Russia…appears to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with China in its response to the events in Andijan.”

According to Fjordman, Dutch Muslims are encouraged to vote “yes” to the European Constitution.

Middle East:

Spark Armada shares his presentation for the Israeli “Blog Day” in which he talks about “The New People” and the role of blogs in people's identity.

In Syria, Amarji believes the President is bound to fail.

The Syrian News Wire analyzes Syria's admission that foreign fighters have been entering Iraq over the Syrian border.

Crossroads Arabia on how the Arab world is reappraising America.

Rafah Pundits Radio comments on a “blogfight” between semitism.net and Israellycool.

Lebanese Political Journal has details on the first round of parliamentary elections to take place this coming Sunday, and argues that Hezbollah is an international issue, despite the fact that politicians have been claiming the contrary.

Sami at An Iraqi's Thoughts thinks Zarqawi's arrest is “irrelevant”.

Hammorabi comments on a civilian's capture of terrorists.

Raed in the Middle wants Al Arabiya to change its policy of filtering viewer comments on its website when those comments are critical of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Mr. Behi, Iranian Prospect and Farideh at IranScan are all talking about whether Iran's reformers should or shouldn't boycott the election. Neda calls for a boycott.

“Hello from the Land of Pharaohs” describes a failed attempt to vote.

1 Pissed Arab on why some people have problems with the spread of democracy in the Middle East.

Africa:
Commentary.co.za points out South Africa's mainstream media is having credibility problems.

Chippala has an update on the Nigerian presidential campaign.

Black Looks links to a report on Nigerian police abuse.

Black Star Journal points out Africa's 2004 growth rate was highest this century.

Middle East:
Chan'ad Bahraini is sad about Bahrain's wilting environment. Photo: dead date palms.

Mahmood wonders if recent international media attention will shame the Bahraini government from stifling free speech on the internet.

Linda asks why offices depicted in Arabic soap operas rarely seem to have computers in them.

Mohammed at “From Cairo With Love” describes voting in today'sreferendum on multi-candidate presidential elections, despite calls for a boycott.

Tom at “Shisha and Shawerma” is cynical about the whole thing.

Alaa describes being attacked and having his laptop stolen while attending a protest with his mother.

Ali at “A free Iraqi” continues his argument with Spirit of America.

IRAN'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS:
Free Thoughts on Iran has some sarcastic advice for Iran's “management.”

Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) discusses the debate raging in the Iranian blogosphere over whether reformist candidate Mostafa Moeen should agree to run now that the Guardian Council has reinstated his candidacy, after first rejecting him.

Mr. Behi also has much to say.

East Asia:
ESWN posts about Chinese online citizen-journalism, blog plagiarism in Hong Kong, and virgins accused of being prostitutes.

Bingfeng has some Chinese “doggerel” jokes.

STAR WARS ALERT: “Musing under the tenement Palm” watched Revenge of the Sith in Urumqi and has some observations about the way it was dubbed into Chinese. (Don't forget to participate in the Globalvoices del.icio.us Starwars tagfest!)

South Asia:
Vantage Point discusses micro-libertarianism, a subject that came up at a recent bloggers' meeting.

Europe:
Fistful of Euros reacts to the latest Madrid car bombing.

Barcepundit has more.

Finland for Thought reports on the Finnish Toilet Paper Crisis.

Eurasia:
Kaukasus found a book and website about all the many forgotten peoples of the Russian empire.

Latin America:
Thanks to Victor for pointing out NotiCuba, written by Elsy Fors, a journalist blogging from Havana. The tone of recent posts is generally supportive of the regime.

Gringo Unleashed translates a Spanish-language report about Al Qaeda in Central America.

Publius Pundit rounds up blog coverage of the crisis in Bolivia.

MABB discusses President Mesa's gamble with pacifism in Bolivia.

Africa:
Chippala reacts to American predictions of Nigeria's collapse.

MORE STAR WARS: Commentary.co.za compares the Republic in Star Wars to the U.N.

Africa

Brian at Black Star Journal worries that UN relief efforts are “damned if they do, damned if they don't”.

Emeka of Timbuktu Chronicles points us to companies exploring m-banking, banking services delivered through cellphones.

Ethiopundit feels “a profound degree of distrust and disgust with the ruling party” and wonders if the Ethiopian government has misrepresented a good harvest to obtain food aid.

Friends of Ethiopia, on the other hand, sees the recent elections as a breakthrough for the opposition.

Ory, the Kenyan Pundit, points us towards a collection of photos shot by Nairobi street kids at homelessworld.org. It's part of a series that includes photos from Moscow, Cairo, New Delhi and other cities around the world.

Zimpundit explains why the black market in currency is flourishing in Zimbabwe, despite government attempts to close it down.

Caucauses and Central Asia

Nate at Registan is concerned about Chinese influence in Uzbekistan (as well as their support for Karimov's crackdown on militants.) And he's got a link to a great story about Georgian threats against George Soros.

Onnik visits a Molokan community in Armenia and finds it a bit surreal to encounter blue eyed, blond, Russian speakers in Armenia.

Middle East

Isam Bayazidi is having a tough time finding a content management system that has a bilingual (English/Arabic) interface.

Sabbah points us to a reworking of Grant Wood's American Gothic by cartoonist Emad Hajjaj.

Mohamed at From Cairo, With Love thinks it's great that Egyptians are being politically active, but that he's not sympathetic to the emails he's getting urging him to boycott tomorrow's polls.

Big Pharaoh points to evidence that he's an actual Egyptian blogger, not a CIA plant. Silly Bahrani Girl goes a step further, blowing her cover in an article in USC Annenberg's Online Journalism Review. (The article, BTW, is an excellent overview of the vibrant Bahrani blogosphere.)

Yasser is (understandably) confused about the certification of presidential candidate Mustafa Moeen. Mr. Behi thinks the decision by Iran's supreme leader to “order democracy” by re-certifying Moeen is a contradiction in terms.

Europe

Antoin is interested in having Ireland adopt a numeric post code system, like the US or the UK.

Petr Bokuvka, the Daily Czech, is finding context-based text ads in online newspapers just a little bit off…

Finland for Thought thinks Finland is pretty unique… but that philosopher Pekka Himanen's explanations for the nation's successes are pretty weak.

Asia

Gaurav wishes that Indian libertarians - himself included - would talk less about macroeconomic issues, and more about micro issues, like local poverty.

The Tokyo Times blog features what's quite possibly the world's least neccesary research study.

Japundit fills us in on some of the unknown dangers facing restauranteurs in Seoul: escaped zoo elephants.

Phil in Hong Kong wonders “What's in a Name”?

South America

Guillermo at Sine Metu Reloaded picks apart a statement from President Kirchner in a line-by-line critique.

FYI speculates about Brazil's “sistema jurídico disfuncional brasileiro” (dysfunctional justice system) and its impact on Brazil's economic development.

SOUTH ASIA:
Photo: “Cheapest Commuter” by Karachiblog.

Kiruba reports on the Nth Chennai bloggers' meeting. SelectiveAmnesia has pictures.

MIDDLE EAST:
Iran's Guardian Council has released its approved list of presidential candidates and the reformist blogging candidate Mostafa Moeen is not among them. Some blogger reaction:
- Mr. Behi says the Guardian Council is the “gangrene of democracy.”
- Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) accuses conservative candidate Moshen Rezai of shameless campaigning.

Iranian Truth discusses the rise of militarism.

The Kurdistan Bloggers Union posts photos of a demonstration by 50,000 Kurds in Syria to protest the disappearance of Kurdish cleric Sheikh Mohammad Mashouk al-Khaznawi. (More photos on www.qamislo.info)

On ChristianIraq.com, blogger Dahr Jamail describes the angst of an Iraqi man in Amman Jordan fretting about the safety of his family in Baghdad: “Abu Talat was talking via IM with his wife as she nearly fainted because bombs and gunfire were so near their home.”

Mohammed at Iraq the Model thinks talk of civil war is overblown.

Omar thinks the photo of Saddam in his underwear isn't such a big deal.

Raed in the Middle (with a long comments thread) discusses the parallels between Star Wars III and the Iraq situation. (see my separate post for more Star Wars links!)

Ali at Free Iraqi reports on a bovine suicide bomber.
..more seriously, he also reports on a rally to honor an Iraqi police officer who was killed after stopping a suicide attack.

David at Israelly Cool has his first podcast.

Isam Bayazidi believes this year will go down in history as “Blog year of Arabia.”

At Syriancomment.com, Syria-watcher Joshua Landis asks: ” Would it be Better for Syria to have Regime-Change Now or in 5 Years?”

SOUTHEAST ASIA:
Various Singaporean bloggers got interviewed by Singapore's Sunday Times. Mr Brown is annoyed at being called an “online diarist.” He links to the newspapers raw interview so that you can compare them with the final newspaper report.

Still in Singapore, Wannabe Lawyer and Singasingapore are Google-bombing the Singapore Democratic Party.

Jacob at Omeka na huria recommends a book on internet surveillance & intimidation in Singapore.

Bloggers in the Philippines are outraged that “a Google search for the word “Filipina” throws back a slew of sites on dating and mail order brides. It’s even worse for Google Image Search.” But the “Pinoy Bloggers” - as they call themselves - aren't just going to sit back and let this state of affairs continue. They've got a plan to link the word “Filipina” to URL's and permalinks to each others' blog posts that describe women of the Philippines as “excellent, smart and tenacious.”

Jeff Ooi has beautiful photos from a Buddhist ceremony.

AFRICA:
In Zimbabwe, Bulawayo on the Sokwanele blog has been driving his car around on “empty” because he doesn't have six free hours to wait in line.

Subzero Blue has a detailed report on the latest Tunisian Bloggers' Meetup.

CENTRAL ASIA:
Nathan at Registan.net says Typepad blogs are now blocked [CORRECTION: appear to be blocked] in Uzbekistan.

EAST ASIA:
Isaac Mao announces the Adopt a Chinese blog program through which bloggers in other countries can help Chinese bloggers avoid censorship by hosting their blogs.

The Shanghai-based Dutch journalist Fons Tuinstra has started Radio Shanghai, a podcasting group.

ESWN links and translates a story from the Chinese press about a village requiring virginity tests in land compensation cases. Yikes!!

South Asia:
Dina Metha has a photo essay of village women in India. (photo: Dina Metha)

The Corporate Social Responsibility weblog points to a report that there are 315,000 child laborers in Pakistan.

Eurasia:
Blogrel summarizes Armenian media reports about the U.S. billionaire Kirk Kirkorian, who is of Armenian descent, and whose foundation is said in Armenia to have contributed to “a large part” of the country's economic growth.
Onnik also asks: “Is a ‘velvet' revolution ripe in Armenia?”

Voch Me Ban has more on possible reforms in Armenia.

Registan.net posts on Azerbaijan's Beleaguered Opposition, amid news that an Azeri opposition leader has died under mysterious circumstances. He links to a post by the Democracy Guy, who believes Azerbaijan will be a test for the Bush Administration “in which the democracy doctrine will either be shown as real policy, or merely neo-con happy talk.”

Central Asia:
On Uzbekistan, Nathan at Registan has his usual thorough roundup, then asks some tough questions about U.S. policy.

There is a new Uzbekistan blog: Radio Silence.

Thinking-East is covering the Mongolian elections (scheduled for Sunday) here and here.

East Asia:
ESWN has a full English translation of the original article in the Chinese-language Nanfang Weekly about Chinese “undercover internet commentators” that got picked up quickly by the international press. ESWN reports: “these news reports came to the attention of the almighty Internet nanny, and the original article has been removed from the Nanfang Weekend website.” Fortunately you can read the whole thing in both languages on his blog.
… ESWN has another interesting post on how statistics get hyped in China.

Bingfeng Teahouse has a photo essay on media brainwashing.

Chinadigitaltimes.net has a good collection of links today on the currency issue.

According to Slashdot: Asia is the “next frontier” in blogging.

Middle East:
Joshua Landis at Syriacomment.com describes the Syrian blogging scene.

Mohammed in Cairo asks: “what about Egyptian bloggers?”

Iranscan links to an interview with presidential candidate Hooshang Amirahmadi, and a Human Rights Watch report about abuse of dissident members by an exiled Iranian group.

Adventures with Mr.Behi reacts to the report with the headline: “Exchanging monarchs for monsters? Hell NO!”

Iranian Truth challenges the assumption that good Muslim women must wear headscarves.

Aref-Adib thinks Khomeini and Connery look kind of alike.

Iraqi bloggers have much to say about the Saddam underpants photo:
Kurdo's world is gleeful. So is the Kurdistan Bloggers Union.

Raed in the Middle (who generally wants the U.S. out) did not comment directly, but posted the underpants cover photo along with enlarged photos of the dead faces of Saddam's sons which were part of an Israeli photo exhibit.

A Free Writer posts a survey on Iraqi living conditions.

Iraq the Model has the first in a series of posts following the drafting process of Iraq's new constitution.

Africa:
Thinker's Room explains how some people seem to be more equal than others in Kenya.

African Bullets & Honey believes “the Kenyan government is at war with its own people,” and asks where Africa's heroes have gone.

Black Looks describes a “shocking story” of Cassava wars in Nigeria.

Afrotecnik links to new gadgetry for places with limited electricity: a self-winding mobile phone charger and foot charger that works with some laptops.

Timbuktu chronicles has some links about how the spread of mobile phones in Africa will help create a new middle class.

Southeast Asia:
Kennysia in Malaysia speculates on an upcoming Singapore bloggers' meeting this summer, with some great programming suggestions and hilarious graphics! (Featured on mock poster: Mr. Brown and Xiaxue. ) How come nobody ever made these for the BloggerCons???

Mack at Brandmalaysia discusses Malaysia's “worst managed company.”

Sarasonteh points out that the Thai government is trying to discourage the international media from reporting about ongoing violence in predominantly Muslim Southern Thailand. (Incidentally, the International Crisis group thinks it's an important story.) [UPDATE: the blog's author has posted some clarifications in the comments section here.]

Disni in the Philippines has a long critique of the Business Software Alliance's report on software piracy worldwide, which claims one third of the world's software is pirated.

Republic of Free Cyberspace:
Meanwhile, Turkish Torque points out that a Beykent University student has developed a free flash editor for Linux users. Yay Beykent!

South Asia:
Uzz Buzz at “United We Blog” describes his recent audio conference on disinformation in Nepal.

Vantage point is enthusing about a movie… and it's NOT Star Wars.

East Asia:
Japan Window Photo Blog has great pictures and a long account of the Design Festa in Tokyo.

Are you feeling blogger-burnout? Gen Kanai has found a great new tool: Autoblogger. Be sure to watch the quicktime video…

Congratulations to Dottocomu for well-deserved praise from PC Magazine.

Marmot and Oranckay on how the scars of the 1980 Gwangju massacre remain raw.

Chattergarden reports that Hong Kong is cracking down on users of BitTorrent.

Danwei thinks China's state news agency, Xinhua, is obsessed with hot babes.

Central Asia:
Two Uzbekistan-based Peace Corps volunteers with blogs have reacted differently to a Peace Corps directive telling them not to talk about the political situation. Working Definition has decided to keep blogging but avoid giving any more analysis on the Andijon situation. Wanderlustress has decided to stop blogging.

Scraps of Moscow has more on the Uzbekistan situation, thanks to his continued translation of Russian media reports.

Eurasia:
Workhorse in the Ukraine writes about the Crimean Tartars, who were deported by Stalin 61 years ago and still seek justice.

Orange Ukraine takes a look at Ukraine's economic problems, and suspects Russia is overcharging Ukraine for oil.

The Russian Dilettante says there are too many cars with St.Petersburg license plates in Moscow these days…

Siberianlight has an interesting post on the Eurovision song contest in Kiev, pointing out that the Russian lyrics seem somewhat anti-American.

Europe:
Barcepundit has been translating (here and here) material from the Spanish press on what is now being called “Spain's Terrorgate.”

Africa:
Wayne Wides at South Africa's Commentary.co.za gives President Mbeki some advice on how to make the economy grow faster, but wonders if Mbeki is willing to really do what it takes.

Black Looks reports that Nigeria is the first African nation with professional womens' football (soccer).

Latin America:
Venezuela News & Views holds forth on the “neglected Venezuelan provinces.”

Middle East:
The Angry Arab describes being photographed for an LA Times profile. He has also written a silly song about Lebanon's Hariri.

We have reports on the 3rd Jordanian bloggers' meetup from “And far away…”

Semitism.net now has streaming audio.

Kurdistan Bloggers Union has an interview with a Syrian Kurd.

Hammorabi discusses newspaper reports that Syrian forces have joined insurgents against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Iraq the Model defends Spirit of America and Friends of Democracy against critics.

In Iran, Syamak Moattari is scared about the prospect of a U.S. attack.

Mr. Behi has done his first radio interview, available online. …and, by the way, it was done with Skype.

Iran Scan lets us in on what Iranians are saying in taxis… and what the newspapers are saying.

Mahmoud was interviewed by the BBC from Bahrain.

Central Asia:
Picture: “By The Kabul River” By Afghan Lord.

Waheed at Afghan Warrior weighs in on the recent anti-U.S. protests, in the wake of Newsweek's now-retracted story. He believes the Taliban tried but failed to take advantage of the situation.

Nathan of Registan.net was interviewed by the BBC about Uzbekistan, which he has been following closely on his blog. He has the full MP3 audio here. He also points us to his latest article on the Uzbekistan crisis at OpenDemocracy.

Africa:
Jewels in the Jungle has a roundup of blog-coverage of the Ethiopian Parliamentary election.

Black Looks reports that Spain is jumping on the “Africa bandwagon.”
She is also unimpressed with U.S. the latest U.S. counter-terrorism initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meskel Square on how news organizations (and enterprising people with photocopy machine access) are making money as all Ethiopia waits for results of Sunday's election.
Amber Henshaw has a firsthand account of the voting.

Kenyan Pundit links to a documentary on the rise of Kenyan hip-hop.

Middle East:
Aswantiba quips: “Who needs Newsweek when you got Al-Jazeera?”

“From Cairo, With Love” says people find his blog for the strangest reasons.

Farideh at Iran Scan notices that a professor at Rutgers University is one of the thousand-plus people who registered their candidacy to run for president of Iran.

Yasser at Under Underground describes the propaganda on Iranian TV.

Free Iraqi has some critical words for Spirit of America, which has democracy development-related projects in Iraq. SoA director Jim Hake responds in the comments section.

Israpundit has the scoop on the real Indiana Jones.

“Refugee” at Bethlehem Bloggers wonders whether the occupation will mess up his/her summer vacation.

Beiruit Spring gives high marks to the new U.S. ambassador so far.

South Asia:
Niraj says India's growing middle class is having trouble hiring domestic help these days… and that this is a bi-product of India's economic growth.

East Asia:
EastSouthWestNorth comments on issues of “media responsibility and ethics” in light of a series of photographs that have been spreading like a virus around Chinese cyberspace. The pictures are allegedly of a TV hostess from a local station in the Southern city of Shenzhen, in bed with a man purported to be a senior city official, but there's no way to tell for sure.

Andrea Leung recommends a report on the internet in China by Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker.

Pacific:
There is a blog from the Cook Islands. Now you have no excuse not to know where that is…

Europe:
“Fistfull of Euros” on Dutch Euro-skepticism and the Dutch Finance Minister, who has a blog.

Gavin thinks its time for another Irish blog meeting, and gives us some links into the Irish blogosphere.
Meanwhile Twenty Major has some suggestions that would make fighting Ireland's organized crime more fun.

Ever heard of the Mari people? They're an ethnic group related to the Finns living deep inside Russia. Helsinkitimes.net claims they face discrimination and lack autonomy.

“Central Budapest” muses about Hungarian grumpiness.

South Asia:
Just a Little Something reports on the Bangalore Bloggers Meetup. Muthu has video and more pix.

Dina Metha reports that the Indian government has offered accreditation to bloggers. But do they want it? [Update Note: link to Dina's blog now fixed. Was wrong before.]

United We Blog marks the 100-day anniversary since the King seized power in Nepal.

Southeast Asia:
In the Philippines, By Jove! is glad to see that the Arroyo administration recognizes that the recent rash of journalist killings is a “crisis.”

Europe:

Turkish Torque picks apart (here and here) the World Economic Forum's comparative survey of gender equality in 58 nations, in which Turkey ranked 57th. He theorizes that globalization may actually be part of the reason: “improvement in gender equality in one country can very well be the cause of deterioration in another.”

Middle East:

In Iraq, A Free Writer shows how Iraqi children without electricity study by candlelight in stifling heat.

Free Iraqi answers readers' questions.

Iraq the Model has a great picture of Iraqi women getting internet skills and blogging training.

Baghdad Burning of the dead and the undead.

Iraq Rising has another long post on Islam.

Iran Scan sees signs that Rafsanjani is worried about his support among Iranian youth.

Hossein Derakhshan plans to start a Rear Window Initiative.

Chan'ad Bahraini has moved from Blogger to Wordpress.

Amarji in Syria is cynical about upcoming “reforms,” and is concerned that continued violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border could lead to a confrontation between the U.S. and Syria.

In Libya, From the Rock reacts to the Newsweek scandal.

In Lebanon, Raja is disappointed in General Aoun. Lebanese Political Journal calls him “ignorant.”

Jordan Planet got a “freedom song” in a spam e-mail and wants to know if anybody else is getting them.

Thoughts from a Rabbi links to All for Peace Radio, a joint Israeli-Palestinian station.

Africa
In Zimbabwe, Sokwanele complains about what a drag it is to spend your weekend lining up to buy fuel for your car.

Black Looks reports that some local officials in Uganda have come up with the idea of virginity certificates as a way to fight HIV/AIDS.

Head Heeb has updates and analysis on two elections in Africa: Central African Republic and Ethiopia.

In Tunisia, Subzero Blue is excited about a new organization called Global Hand.

Russia:
The Russian Dilletante warns that liberty and democracy don't always go hand in hand, and believes that's especially true in Russia these days.

Neeka's Backlog has links and photos about the detention of protestors who rallied in support of jailed oil magnate Khodorovsky. Siberian Light has updates on the situation.

Central Asia
Registan.net continues to bring us the latest on Uzbekistan.

…and Lyndon at Scraps of Moscow continues to follow the Uzbekistan situation with translations from the Russian media.

Latin America:
(Many oil stories today)
The Venezuelan blogosphere (mostly pro-opposition, anti-Chavez, from what I have found) is abuzz over allegations of corruption and impending collapse at the state oil company, PDVSA. See posts by Venezuela News and Views and The Devil's Excrement. (An alternative, point of view can be found here at Venezuelanalysis.com.

East Asia:
Imagethief reflects on China's P.R. problems in response to a post I wrote and a NYT op-ed.

When it comes to the internet, ESWN says ownership is censorship in China. He also posts on what he calls the “insane” petitioning system.

Kevin Wen points out a blog about corporate social responsibility in China.

Africa:

Timbuktu Chronicles has a review of George Ayittey's Africa Unchained

Brian of Black Star Journal has a history lesson on the role of Liberia in Guinea's civil strife, and the hard time the country is having in getting aid to war ravaged areas.

Chippla thinks it's absurd that an American intelligence expert would speculate that Al Qaeda base itself in Nigeria… and potentially damaging to Nigeria's economy.

George Conard of On Safari with El Jorgito is looking for ways to charge cellphones in rural Rwanda… and stumbles on a post I wrote for WorldChanging…!

Central Asia:

Nathan at Registan and Lyndon at Scraps of Moscow are both following events in Andijan, where hundreds have died in clashes between protesters and security forces and thousands are trying to flee to Kyrgyzstan. Working Definition, a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan, has some background on the conflict, and wonders about the content of several websites blocked from within Uzbekistan. Those sites include Muslim Uzbekistan, which features a set of photos from Andijan.

Afghan Warrior is concerned about comments former president Mujaddedi has made that appear to offer amnesty to Mullah Omar and other senior Taliban officials.

Europe:

Baltic Cocktail is concerned about skinhead violence in Riga, Latvia.

Petr Bokuvka, the Daily Czech, is (understandably) upset about a Canadian/Czech fight during the hockey world championship. I miss hockey.

Eurasia

Omnik of Blogrel wishes the Armenian diaspora would put some pressure on the government to end the ArmenTel monopoly.

Middle East:

Linda of Oh Yeah, This is Life wonders why she Arabizes English words when speaking to her grandmother.

Friends of AlJazeera reports that AlJazeera reporters were detained while reporting a judicial meeting discussing the monitoring of upcoming elections. AlJazeera's reporting on Egyptian reform and programming featuring opposition leaders has been criticized on Egyptian state-controlled television.

The Arabist Network has a photo of a billboard at the Iraq/Iran border.

South America:

Argepundit is incensed about Newsweek's correction to its reports on abuse of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, arguing that “Newsweek lied, people died!” (en español).

South Asia:

Rezwan of The 3rd World View has a roundup from Bangladesh newspapers, including a story about “Sisimpur” - the localized version of Sesame Street - and a link to a blog that promises an exposé of the Dhaka central jail.

Oceania:

Avaiki, blogging from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, wonders when Pacific Islanders will receive compensation for illness related to fallout from cold war nuclear testing and wonders if New Zealand will help Islanders press their case.

Central Asia:
Kudos to Lyndon at Scraps of Moscow and Nathan at Registan.net for their excellent collection of posts and links, aggregating and translation (by Lyndon) of information about the Uzbekistan uprising.

Baltics:
This picture appeared around Latvia during President Bush's visit. All About Latvia explains what “Peace Duke” means.

Belatedly, here are some impressions on Bush's Latvia visit by Baltic coctail (sic)

Eurasia:
Blogrel links to some critical Armenian views about Bush's Georgia visit.

Cyber-Generation hates cold showers in Moscow.

Some silly person has created a Xanga blog claiming to be authored by Vladimir Putin…

Africa:
Afrotecnik posts some useful links on the impact of cell phones in Africa.

Zimbabwean Pundit gives us the latest links on arbitration for farmers whose land was forcibly seized.

Sokwanele describes his local pastor's latest junket.

Bankele posts from Nairobi on the state of Kenyan media.

East Asia:
ESWN has a long post on China's biggest internet crime trial to date.

Danwei mocks CNN's China coverage.

Southeast Asia:
In Thailand, Sampaworn shows how Bangkok Post editors make things worse.

Mack at BrandMalaysia criticizes